Is it real?
Yes. Never revoked by the IRS. Latest filing on record: FY2025. IRS ruling in Feb 2009.
IRS Pub. 78 · IRS Auto-Revocation List · IRS Business Master File
Where the money goes
80 cents of each dollar spent went to programs.
Form 990 Part IX, line 25, columns B–D. Every line is in By the numbers.
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Who runs it and what they're paid
17 people listed on the 990; $795K paid to officers and key staff.
Dr Wolf Von Laer’s $239K as CEO is at the 90th percentile of top reported officer pay among 3395 $1–10M education nonprofits. Peer set: organizations in the same NTEE major field of work and revenue-size band, compared on each org’s own highest-paid officer/key-employee, from Form 990 Part VII / 990-PF Part VIII. Descriptive placement, not a verdict on whether the pay is appropriate.
Compensation history total reportable pay by year · 8 named individuals · Part VII
| Name | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | FY2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dr Wolf Von Laer | $239,091 | $234,474 | $224,009 | $191,850 | $151,871 |
| Kenneth Wagner | $190,153 | $181,667 | $181,317 | $131,923 | — |
| Laura Cheplak | — | — | — | — | $169,950 |
| Joshua Sanders | $125,031 | $130,000 | — | — | — |
| Robyn Harberger | $121,417 | $115,016 | $111,541 | $103,897 | — |
| Joshua Murdock | $119,355 | $112,266 | $103,838 | — | — |
| Kyle Walker | — | — | — | — | $102,473 |
| Josh Murdock | — | — | — | $95,943 | $79,977 |
Total reportable compensation (Form 990 Part VII column D / Schedule J column E) by filing year, matched by name within this organization. The Schedule J base / bonus / deferred breakdown is not parsed into this dataset.
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Questions the 990 asks
The form asks each of these directly. These are the filed answers.
- Family or business ties among officersPt VI · Ln 2No
- Top official's pay set by an independent reviewPt VI · Ln 15aYes
Programs and updates
Educates, develops, and empowers young leaders for liberty.
Questions for Students for Liberty Incorporated
Your first name shows with your question. Students for Liberty Incorporated answers here, for everyone.
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SFL conferences serve many purposes including giving students experience in organizing and networking. The main focus of every conference schedule is on education. Every conference covers both introductory and advanced material for students to learn about pro-liberty ideas at every level.
SFL'S emphasis on leadership development has been the key to the organization's success over the years. SFL teaches young people entrepreneurship, event planning, volunteer management, effective writing, public speaking and other skills that they can use throughout their lives and gives them experience applying these skills in building…
SFL provides in person and online educational trainings to its leaders and a wider audience of interested students. SFL also runs the learn liberty youtube channel with over 57.1m views and over 298,000 subscribers. Learn liberty is our resource for exploring the ideas of a free society.
Funders
Who pays for it.
From grant filings on record. Receipts are incomplete: individual donors are never listed.
Grants
By the numbers
The FY2025 990, line by line.
Download 990
| Line | Start FY25 | End FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Cash and savingsLn 1–2 | $212K | $302K |
| InvestmentsLn 11–13 | $1.8M | $1.4M |
| Land, buildings, equipmentLn 10c | $8K | $6K |
| Total assetsLn 16 | $2.5M | $1.8M |
| LiabilitiesLn 26 | $291K | $185K |
| Net assetsLn 32 | $2.2M | $1.7M |
| Line | Total | Programs | Management | Fundraising |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grants and assistance to foreign recipientsLn 3 | $70K | $70K | ||
| Pay of current officers, directors and key staffLn 5 | $358K | $179K | $125K | $54K |
| Other salaries and wagesLn 7 | $986K | $532K | $116K | $338K |
| Other employee benefitsLn 9 | $90K | $43K | $29K | $18K |
| Payroll taxesLn 10 | $103K | $51K | $25K | $27K |
| Legal feesLn 11b | $290 | $290 | ||
| Accounting feesLn 11c | $14K | $14K | ||
| Professional fundraising feesLn 11e | $149K | $149K | ||
| Other fees for servicesLn 11g | $2.0M | $1.9M | $97K | $63K |
| Advertising and promotionLn 12 | $150K | $149K | $617 | $37 |
| Office expensesLn 13 | $140K | $82K | $5K | $53K |
| Information technologyLn 14 | $29K | $29K | ||
| TravelLn 17 | $1.2M | $1.2M | $10K | $22K |
| Conferences, conventions and meetingsLn 19 | $691K | $681K | $10K | |
| Depreciation, depletion and amortizationLn 22 | $2K | $2K | ||
| InsuranceLn 23 | $8K | $8K | ||
| Other expenses (24a–d)Ln 24 | $287K | $196K | $76K | $15K |
| All other expensesLn 24e | $24K | $9K | $15K | $310 |
| Total functional expensesLn 25 | $6.3M | $5.1M | $523K | $750K |
Filing history
| Year | Money in | Money out | In minus out | Net assets | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 Latest Viewing | $5.8M | $6.3M | −$506K | $1.7M | 990 PDF |
| FY2024 | $5.1M | $6.9M | −$1.8M | $2.2M | 990 PDF |
| FY2023 | $5.7M | $5.8M | −$43K | $4.9M | 990 PDF |
| FY2022 | $6.8M | $4.3M | $2.5M | $5.0M | 990 PDF |
| FY2021 | $4.0M | $2.8M | $1.2M | $2.5M | 990 PDF |
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Schedules filed Part IV
See the full FY2025 990 (6 parts)
Part I · Summary $5,821,196 revenue, 12 lines filed
Part VI · Governance 12 of 12 board members independent, no flags
Part VIII · Statement of revenue $5,821,196 across 8 lines filed
Part IX · Statement of functional expenses $6,326,705 across 18 lines filed
Part X · Balance sheet $1,846,915 assets, 14 lines filed
Part XI · Reconciliation of net assets $1,661,482 net assets at year end
Form 990 e-file (XML) FY2025 from the IRS · Classification, formation year and address from the IRS Business Master File
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